Earlier, over 80 humanitarian organizations has called upon UN member states to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over the situation in Syria

Appeals to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) are nothing more than cynical political hearsay, head of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee for International Affairs Leonid Slutsky told TASS on Tuesday.

As reported earlier, over 80 humanitarian organizations had called upon UN member states to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over the situation in Syria. According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) international new agency, Human Rights Watch was among the 80 organizations.

“We can only regret that the humanitarian situation in Syria is being subject to cynical political speculations that even the likes of Human Rights Watch stoop to,” said Slutsky who is now on a visit to Switzerland heading the State Duma’s delegation to the 135th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

He noted that “as it is known, Human Rights Watch depends on private donations with US investor George Soros among its chief sponsors. In 2010, Soros gave $100 mln to support the organization for the current decade.” “Some experts, including rights activists, say that Human Rights Watch has been providing information and propaganda support for diplomatic, economic and military interference by NATO members (first and foremost the US) into the internal affairs of other countries,” the Russian MP stated.

In Slutsky’s opinion, the Western non-governmental organizations’ assessments of Russia’s activities in Syria are “at least biased.” “Given the current situation in Syria, one should first think about combating the terror groups who cynically use civilians as human shields. It seems that under the guise of compassion, Western non-governmental organizations defend terrorists. In fact, they hide Washington’s attempts to overthrow regimes seen as unfriendly by the global community, while these attempts have already resulted in the emergence of IS and Jabhat al-Nusra (both terror groups outlawed in Russia),” Slutsky stressed.

Elections for UN Human Rights Council are scheduled for October 28. Russia, Hungary and Croatia are claiming the two seats reserved for East European countries. Other candidates include Egypt, China, Cuba, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.